Sports Summer Camps

"With sports camps, you're really getting some concentrated skills development," says Brandon McClounie, the publicity chair for the British Columbia Camping Association. "Campers are getting enhanced progress in a shortened period — you can see some quick results."

The Hockey Opportunity Camp (HOC) in Sundridge, for instance, helps campers improve upon hockey-related skills, including skating, stickhandling, and shooting.

HOC director Kevin McLaughlin finds that his campers especially benefit from the extra ice time they get during their one-week summer on winter sessions. "Ice time is such a tough thing to find, a lot of kids don't often have a chance to build on basic skills like power skating. We practise things like skating forwards, backwards, tight turns, stopping, starting and balance," McLaughlin says. "That's the biggest area we see improvement in."

Chris Doughty heard about HOC through friends and family, and decided to sign up his son Liam. "We have noticed a tremendous improvement in Liam's skills, especially his speed and agility," Doughty says. "He is only seven and hasn't played hockey long, so we really noticed how much better he played and his overall understanding of the game."

Sports camps offer variety

A common trait at many sports camps, even those that concentrate on one sport, is that campers have an opportunity to experience and improve in several different sports. At HOC, campers spend half the day working on their hockey skills and the other half at HOC's campground, where they can kayak, waterski, or mountain bike. "Kids love the summer camp aspect," says McLaughlin.

Doughty says Liam had so much fun at his first session last July, he asked to return in August. "He was brimming with such enthusiasm and confidence, how could we say no?" Doughty says. "He said that he was never bored and never felt homesick for more than a few minutes because the staff are so great at making everything exciting and fun."

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